China will take measures to ensure a safe and smooth Spring Festival travel rush, said officials with related departments on Friday during a press conference.
The 2019 Spring Festival travel rush, known as the Chunyun in Chinese, will run from January 21 to March 1, and about 2.99 billion trips are expected to be made, up 0.6 percent compared with the previous year, said Lian Weiliang, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Lian talked about key measures taken to ensure tension-free festival journeys. Transportation capacity will be further enhanced with a 5.4 percent and 5.2 percent increase in the number of trains before and after the festival respectively, compared with last year. The civil aviation department has also arranged 532,000 flights during the period, up 10 percent.
The ticket purchasing process has been improved. Pilot areas for ticket purchase have been set up at some of the popular routes. The order and efficiency of Internet ticket purchasing process will also be upgraded. A total of 230,000 volunteers will help travelers this year, said Lian.
Ensure a safe back-home journey
Ensuring safety is the top priority of the Spring Festival travel work, said Liu Xiaoming, vice minister of transport.
The ministry will, in advance, investigate the hidden dangers and manage road congestion to prevent accidents. The building of credit records will be further strengthened and violators of laws and regulations will be severely punished, said Liu.
The Ministry of Public Security will supervise the road situation, rectify traffic safety hazards, and strictly prohibit unqualified cars from hitting the road. It will also maximize the police force and equipment during the period, and crack down on serious traffic violations such as fatigue and drunk driving, said Li Jiangping, deputy director of Traffic Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.
